Chocolate Fudge Pie – Easy and Amazing!

Fudge pie made with cocoa takes about 10 minutes to put together and 30 minutes to bake into the most delicious pie you’ve ever had!

If you ask my family what they want for dessert, hands down every single one of us will say something chocolate. Chocolate pie, chocolate cake, chocolate something—which doesn’t mean we don’t like other desserts too. Give me a good Creme Brulee any day!

But overall, our preference is for chocolate. Which probably helps explain the preponderance of chocolate recipes on this site and why we love this fudge pie so much!

I admit I’m a chocoholic. If it’s chocolate, I’ll probably eat it.

And sometimes it turns out that the simplest of things can be the absolute best—which is the case with this old-fashioned chocolate pie, also called Fudge Pie.

It’s one of those things that Southern cooks probably whipped up because they didn’t have much to work with, along the same lines as chocolate cobbler, and this pie is proof that less is often best.

She wasn’t much of a cook, so she would pick up a chocolate fudge pie from her local bakery as her contribution to the family’s Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. When Carole first got married, her husband, Dale, didn’t know what he was in for.

He thought he was marrying a domestic goddess. Instead, he would come home from work to hear her say that the roast she was cooking for supper hadn’t finished thawing and they would just have to go out.

Little did he know she had taken the roast out of the freezer about twenty minutes before he was due home, sprinkled a little flour on her face for good measure, and pretended to be preparing dinner.

I think one of the things that epitomizes the importance of food to me is that we have memories which are so intertwined with the foods we love—or hate, as the case may be (just ask my mother about making me eat peas…).

Even though Carole never actually made this pie, I still think of her when I make it.

And so, while she’s been gone ten years now, her memory lives on through something as simple as a chocolate fudge pie.

What Do You Need to Make This Fudge Pie Recipe?

Now, let’s bake a pie! All you need is a 9-inch pie crust, sugar, cocoa, butter, flour, and vanilla. With that combination, how can you go wrong?

It comes together in about ten minutes, bakes for about thirty and then all that luscious, gooey, chocolatey goodness is ready to eat.

My friend Frank said on Saturday, “That’s about the best chocolate pie I’ve ever eaten!” And I would have to agree.

How to Make Chocolate Pie

Start by melting 3/4 cup of unsalted butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Let that cool for just a few minutes, then stir in 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar.

Use a hand mixer or whisk to dissolve sugar, and keep in mind the sugar will not dissolve completely until baking. The mixture will feel slightly grainy, which is perfectly fine.

Updated 5-22-2017 – Note about using frozen pie shell: I use either homemade pie dough or a refrigerated pie crust that I place in my actual 9-inch pie plate. As a result of some of the comments, I tried this pie in a frozen pie shell and as it turns out, the frozen pie shell that is labeled a 9-inch is actually smaller than a real 9-inch pie dish. The frozen pie shell fits down inside my 9-inch Pyrex pie plate.

Therefore, there is definitely too much batter and if you pour all of it into the frozen pie shell it will overflow.

So, if using a frozen pie shell, either don’t pour all of the batter into the pie shell or use a deep-dish frozen pie shell. If using homemade or refrigerated pie crust in a true 9-inch pie plate then you should be fine.

This fudge pie is an old-fashioned pie that takes about ten minutes to put together and thirty minutes to bake into the most delicious, gooey, chocolatey pie you've ever had!

Course:
Dessert

Cuisine:
American

Yield: 8servings

Calories: 464kcal

Author: Lucy

Ingredients

3/4cupunsalted butter, melted

1 1/2cupsgranulated sugar

1/3cupall-purpose flour

1/8teaspoonsalt

1/3cupcocoa

1 1/2teaspoonsvanilla extract

3large eggs

19-inchunbaked pie shell

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter in large, microwave safe bowl. Add sugar to melted butter and use a hand mixer or whisk to combine until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add additional ingredients and beat or whisk until well blended.

Pour into pie crust and bake about 25-40 minutes, or until center is set and toothpick has gooey wet crumbs. Make sure you don't overbake.

Reader Interactions

Comments

I would not bake the frozen crust first. Please see the notes about using a frozen crust–it probably won’t hold quite all the batter, so be sure you don’t overfill and be sure to cook the pie on a foil-covered baking sheet. Merry Christmas and hope you enjoy!

Usually someone in my family, possible me, cuts into this pie the second it comes out of the oven! That’s a little too soon but it’s so yummy when it’s warm. I would try to let it set at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

My three boys (15, 12, and 7) request this pie every birthday, special occasion, and holiday! I love how quickly and easily it comes together. Oh, and even though it is DELISH on its own, I made it for company and added some coursrly chopoed pecans. WOW!!!!

I’ve made this several times and my family loves it. The second time I put it in 2 regular frozen crusts and didn’t bake it quite as long and it turned out like a tart, they loved it just as much. Thank you for publishing this.

I’ve tried this twice and both times it is just a runny mess and never bakes completley . I did use a frozen pie shell , but poured some out. When I cooked it longer the top burns . looks like others have had luck … can’t figure it out! ?

I’d love to troubleshoot with you and try to figure out why the pie isn’t working for you. I’ll send you an email and see what we can come up with. Could be oven calibration or rack position or something simple like that. Thanks for your comment.

Made this today. Used a hand mixer. The batter fluffed up and was a light brown. Put it in a frozen 9 in pie crust and within minutes it was oozing all over the oven floor, smelling and burning. Yuck! Thinking something may be need to be tweeked on this recipe a bit.

Hi Tina,
So sorry that happened to you! I’ve made this recipe many times and it does puff up while baking but mine doesn’t overflow. Not sure what could have gone wrong but I do hope you’ll try the pie again.

Hi! Thanks for the recipe. Here’s how I make it! I make the batter exactly the same, but I don’t put it in a pie shell. I just put it in a 8×8 square glass dish and bake it like that. I then scoop it into a bowl and top it with vanilla ice cream! It is soooo good! When we want some the next day (or maybe another helping a couple of hours later!), I microwave it for a few seconds to warm it up again. Give it a try! It’s kind of like lava cake or maybe lava brownie? Thanks again!

This is an excellent fudge pie recipe! My 11-year-old made it for us tonight (I helped a little) and it is perfect. She just used a whisk and it baked up to creamy deliciousness in 35 minutes! Thank you! 🙂

I think that would be ok, but I’d probably go ahead and toss in the 1/8 tsp of salt with the flour anyway. I rarely use salted butter so I don’t really know HOW salty it tastes, but I doubt that it would make the pie too salty. Hope it turns out well!

This pie looks delish. After i melted butter and i poured all the sugar in and began to whisk. It was very sugary and i could not whisk it away to being smooth. I realize now, i think i should have allow the melted butter to cool. Gonna try one more time since it is so quick.

Love stories from the kitchen and your sister in law sounds like a hoot!! Sorry for your loss but so glad you have a funny reminder of her in your kitchen !
To me food has the best memories
It seems that nearly everything I cook brings memories of old friends and strangely enough, cooking helps me draw on fond memories of friends turned “no longer friends”. The kitchen is my happy place because it brings warmth and smiles to my loved ones faces.
I cannot wait to mAke this ( I have to use coconut oil instead of butter , I’ll let u know how it turns out?

I need to make this for my daughter’s teacher. However I will need to do it the night before.. Would I need to refrigerate (and how does it taste cold) or leave it out for room temperature? Or is this delicious looking pie great only when hot out of oven? 🙂

I don’t typically use a frozen pie crust but I would follow the instructions on the pie crust package as to whether to thaw or not. Note – if you do use frozen, I discovered they are actually smaller than my 9-inch glass pie plate so don’t pour all of the batter into the frozen pie crust or it will overflow and make a chocolate mess!

My pies are in the oven i learned to bake pies by my great uncle he was famous for his fudge pie and i was the only one who carried his recipe in the family so when he passed i continued the tradition well it has been a few years since i last made one and two kids,later my mind got a little fuzzy i could remember a few things so when i got asked to bake the famous pies i was too embarrassed to say i forgot considering im the only one who knew but after seeing this recipe it brought it all back to me thank you for helping me keep my great uncles famous pies alive today!

It just taste like brownie so I guess it’s fine. Just not what I was looking forward to xD I’m going to have to try again and just watch it closely or turn the heat down. I thought that was probably the problem.

I worked for a catering company and we did a lot of funcitons in a victorian home in the nw area of arkansas, and my boss made these. He always made sure he made me one of my own, and i asked for the recipe for years and he wouldn’t give it up. So now with the computer age i was able to find it and WOW it’s funny how something like this can bring back such awesome memories. My friend is now deceased and i think of him often. Just wanted to share that!!!

LUCY,I Love your story! My mother-in-law always made this for me and it was my favorite! She always made one for my wife and kids and one just for me that no one else was allowed to touch! The old stories about hating your mother-in-law is definitely not true in my case. She lived with us for 10 years and I loved her and her chocolate pie!